Fly Tying Materials for Beginners - Hackle Primer
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- čas přidán 27. 08. 2024
- What's the difference between a cape or a neck and a saddle? Isn't a rooster just a chicken? Are their feathers really that different from a hen's feathers?
This is the first instructional video in the "Fly Tying Materials for Beginners" series where we explore all the basics on what's what when it comes to hackle from chickens.
Savage Flies is a project with the mission of encouraging and teaching fly tying to as many people as possible. The channel is named after one of my western Maryland homewaters, the Savage River. I've been uploading at least three new videos a week (usually Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday).
Thanks for stopping by. Please let me know in the comments if you have any tying tips you would like to share or if you have any patterns you would like to see tied here.
Matt,
The information you supply is always top notch. I was given probably 30 unmarked capes and saddles and now, thanks to this CZcams video, I have a better idea of ways to use them.
Keep the tying videos coming! I thoroughly enjoy each one, especially the series on Smokies flies.
Well thank you Mac! I appreciate the kind words my friend. :-)
Thank You ! Been trying to find out about hackle types and what to use . It's all in a nutshell here . Just started tying again after 20 + yrs . Your videos are the best out there , hands down .
Very informative once again! Thank you!
Appreciate it my friend!
Sir Matt you are the man you have answered my questions. Pretty awesome it's coming in the form of a video on your Channel. Thank You Sir.
You bet Edward. I'm no expert in all the hackles out there, but feel free to drop me a note if you ever have any questions I might be able to help with. Thanks again for the support! Cheers. -Matt
SWEET I am new a fly tying this helped so much. Thank you
Brilliant description. Keeping it simple to start with, this area can really put people off fly tying. I certainly was, until
I watched a lot of videos and read some more! Your videos are certainly a very useful and high quality resource for fly tyers. Thank you 🙏 for sharing your knowledge and expertise
Thanks! I’m ten steps ahead of the fly tying learning curve even after to many years.
And thank you! I usually feel like I'm ten steps behind the learning curve. :-)
Wow, I didn’t know any of that - except that Whiting hackle is pricey. I’ve been using the same grizzly hackle for all my flies, whether it’s a dry fly or a wet fly. Thanks!
Yep, it sure can be pricey. And don't worry if it seems like there is a lot of info out there to learn! There really is, but it certainly comes over time. I think I spent my first couple of years tying using whatever I had for whatever I felt like tying. And I sure tied some crazy looking flies. :-)
Wow great info Matt Thanks for the post
You bet Mark; thanks for watching my friend!
@@SavageFlies your welcome
Matt, thanks for the information, I always like to go back to the basics on anything I do.
Great information on hackles. Thank you for making it easier to understand.
Appreciate it Marshall! Thanks for the note my friend. :-)
Matt I'd just like to say thank you so much for the help. As a person new to hobby, you have taught me an incredible amount. There's nothing in specific that I can narrow it down to and I thank you for that. Keep making the videos mate.
Very informative Matt I got a lot from it. $60 to $100 plus for Whiting half saddles in Australia mate.
ALWAYS GETTING GOOD INFO FROM YOU MATT...THANKS
Thanks Harry! Appreciate you watching my friend. :-)
Thank you for the explanation. I'll have to look for more of these videos
Great stuff Matt! Explains WHY it is important to know what flies you want to tie before diving into a hackle purchase.
, AND that you can get a few different size feathers from each type of neck / saddle.
Absolutely Paul! Of course it took me a few years to learn that. When I bought my first truly decent dry fly cape, it was eye opening the difference good feathers make. :-)
This is a great video, thank you. As a newbie I'm still trying to learn about the different types of materials and why to choose which for what. You helped a lot by talking a bit about what size feathers available on which materials and sizes of hooks that would correspond to. Great info and not something I've seen discusses anywhere else. BTW, all your videos are great.
Dana, thanks for this comment! Sorry I'm just seeing it. I try to keep up on all the videos' comments but some of these older ones slip through the cracks. But I do appreciate it my friend. 🙂
Nice review/video on feathers.thanks for sharing!!.
Thanks Mike! Appreciate the watch/comment. :-)
Your videos are so informative. As a newbie it’s great to have your vids as a resource. Keep them coming.
Thanks Chris; I appreciate the kind words my friend!
Thx a lot
Thankyou for sharing this video with us.
I enjoyed watching it.
Aloha🌴🎣🏄♂️
Hey, I just noticed you signed off with Aloha. Any chance you're in Hawaii? I used to travel there for work all the time. PMRF on Kauaii. I used to drive up Makaha Ridge for the wild rainbows. Not many people know they're up there. :-)
Great information for me as someone that’s just getting into fly tying!! Thanks Matt for sharing!!
You're most welcome James! Thanks for the note my friend. :-)
Thank you that was very very informative especially for me when being new to fly tying
Thanks Lora! I appreciate you watching. :-)
Great job Matt. Informative and certainly helpful! Thanks
Thanks Clyde! Glad you liked it. Now back to a tying video for tomorrow. :-)
Like this kind of video!! Thanks for gearing towards the reviews and breakdowns!! It supplements the fly history aspect of the channel and is working great 💪
Good class, thanks a million. I know I get lost but now I feel better and learned a bunch of good info. Always trying to learn all I can.
Thanks for all you do.
Keep it Tying
You got it Pablo! I am far from an expert in hackle, but over time we all learn a bit more and more. I know a lot more about the different types than I did just a couple years ago. Thanks for watching my friend. Cheers. -Matt
Good stuff Matt. I’m 2 months into fly tying and all your videos have been very helpful, informative and easy to follow. Production value is top-notch.
Wow, thank you for such a kind comment A.J. I really appreciate when I hear that my videos are helping people. It makes it all worth it. :-)
Gidday Matt. Great info thanks.
Great information, Matt. So, I have to confess that during this video I was thinking about how, if you set me loose in your supply room, I could make the coolest earrings with all that thread, fur, and feathers. Hope that isn't an insult to what you do here. Those are some really beautiful supplies.
Ha! Not an insult at all. :-) Throughout history fly tiers have competed with other markets for feathers. The women's hat industry decimated the rare bird population in the early 1900s, literally driving some species to near-extinction, and making it impossible to get some of the feathers the original fly patterns called for. There is actually a dark underside to the community (I hear) that trades in rare feathers such as Indian Crow and the cotinga. But that's the salmon fly tying world. Here's an interesting link to some of these feathers you can buy legally. www.featheremporium.com/Exotic-Feathers/softbills/cotinga.html
Thanks for watching Debora!
I enjoy watching your videos. Motivating for sure
Thanks Lloyd! Much appreciated. Cheers. -Matt
This was great. Thank you.
That cleared up a few questions Thanks
Super helpful, Matt! Stoked for the next episode. Maybe on partridge...?
Oh yeah! Hungarian Partridge, quail and definitely a pheasant skin. 😁
Very good information, I sure wish someone had explained all this when I got started! Good job sir!
Thank you my friend! And same here. But when I was a kid, I had to learn from the library and bait shops. 😁
Glad you done this video, it answered a lot of questions for me. I have been looking at the hareline half neck chunks at my local fly shop and am glad to hear they are good. Will be picking some of those up. Thanks Matt
Thanks Jason! Glad it was helpful. Cheers. -Matt
I tie a lot of old school patterns with pheasant capes. It's only been time for about 2 years.
Thank you very much, you have answered a lot of my questions
You got it Dave; glad it helped!
Some time, can you do one on thread
Yep, definitely want to do one on all the thread options out there! Hooks too.
Matt reviewing some old videos came across your video on hackle feathers hen vs rooster the old way of checking for quality was bend the hackle in half and touch the barbs to your lip lips being the sensitive parts of the body the barbs should feel like little needles off course this was before Metz and Hoffman and Whitting Grading
I'd never heard this but that's a great tip! I might have to compare some of my cheap hackle to my good stuff by touching the barbs to my lips. :-)
Very cool, was actually wondering about this stuff. I pictured it as individual feathers (having raised chickens they naturally “shed” or molt) but it looks like they are harvesting off the birds
Yep, and a Plymouth Rock rooster genetically bred to have long, slender neck and saddle feathers could worth $200 of materials.. Now for peacocks, I think they can harvest the feathers without having to harm the bird. I've heard of old time tiers who kept peacocks free ranging on their farms just to pick up the feathers when they fell out. Now we just buy them online for four bucks. :-)
👍👍
The way we use to really check the quality and stiffness and a good hackle for dry fly was take the barbells and touch them to our lips which is a very sensitive part of our bodies
That's a great idea! I'm going to have to try that. :-)
Thanks for the info and I do have a question. My tying will mostly be for Bluegills if I wanted to get 2 or maybe 3 saddles from Hareline what colors would you be looking for to get started? I realize gills will chase almost anything but I would want the fly's to look sort of good.
You mention Harline "saddles" so I assume you are talking their hens, and are considering wet flies. If so, their hen saddles (www.jsflyfishing.com/hareline-hackle) are a good choice and I would go with the grizzly, but also a natural brown and black. A black soft hackle comes in handy for a lot of flies!
If you're looking for tying dry flies, you could consider the Hareline dry neck chunks I talked about here-- but they are only available in some basic colors. Grizzly, white, brown, black, and I think grizzly dyed brown and olive. I would still go with a grizzly, and one of the dyed grizzly (brown or olive).
They do have some half capes (about $20) in various colors but these are rooster capes and are primarily for dry flies. But they do have a lot of color options, and some of the smaller feathers on the underside can be used for wets and streamers. Of course, I would still start with the grizzly, then maybe a brown or olive. A ginger and dun are also good choices. But if you want to get fun (as you can do with bluegill flies), I would consider the chartreuse, teal blue and even the hot pink. Just keep in mind, one $20 hot pink cape will probably last you forever. Unless you just tie a ton of pink flies. :-)
In the end, it's all up to you. Just have fun with whatever you go with
My advice may be down to experiences I've had. I buy tons of hackle from different growers, breeders and operations. I like to give other people a chase. Whiting farms is not the only option. There are some problems with genetic chicken that needs to be adressed. For example tails on parachutes and catskill dry flies. Whiting has on some of there spade feathers on there necks or capes. Spade feathers are out on the edges of the Cape or neck You really have to look for the fibers to tie the right size tail you want. You need know what you want to buy and try to go in person.
Good points Colin. I agree it's always nice when you can look at a piece before buying, but that's not always an easy option for folks who don't have local fly shops. I try to support my local shops whenever I can, but "local" for me is two hours away and I usually swing by every month or so when I get out to the river. The rest of the time I have to buy online. Thanks for the note!
Matt, do you think Strung Neck hackle is as good as the few spade feathers on a bird?
Can confirm two years later these are about 59.99…
My game roosters have beautiful capes. How would you suggest using them with crappie jigs?
I'm not much help there Jack as I've never really tied any jig type flies. But I'm thinking if I was doing some crappie jigs, I would tie in the feather tips (not wound as a hackle). And if you have any marabou type feathers on them, that can make for a nice lively body.
Great job. Frequently my hackle breaks as I bend it forward to wrap the fly. Not using hackle pliers-- it breaks at stem. What am I doing wrong?
I'm not sure Kurt, it could be a bad batch of hackle. Is it old and a little brittle maybe? If you want to send me a picture of what you're using I might be able to help. (matt@savageflies.com)
i got few different neck hackles, how can i see if they are hen or rooster ?
A lot of the barbs will stick together on hen feathers, and they're much softer and more flexible than rooster. Rooster feathers make for stiffer dry fly hackle. If you still can't quite tell, just email me a picture and I'll give it my best guess. matt@savageflies.com
From a newby are the natural products like hare masks, squirrel, various hairs raised for the fly tier market. Just wondering where and how they are harvested.
Hey Jack, from what I understand, the answer is yes for chickens and a few other animals like rabbits, pheasants, and probably ducks as well. I would suppose any animal that is raised by breeders could be raised for material sellers. Animals like squirrels and raccoons and opossums, the pelts are most likely bought from trappers. That's a good question and I'll try to find out for sure, but that's my guess. Cheers. -Matt
My way was: cheap capes>mid price>Whiting. Nothing ist as good as Whiting and its better to save money and buy a combo pack grizzly/brown to start with.
Great point! I wish I had thought to mention that Whiting does have some combo packs that make it more economical. I think t hey even have a four-pack, of 1/2 capes now in Grizzly, Brown, White/Cream and probably a medium Dun. Thanks for the note! Cheers. -Matt
Oh yeah, I would definitely buy one of their 100 packs before an expensive saddle. But even those aren't cheap!
Stick with Whiting or Collins. Everything else is junk bottom line